Thanks to weather, friends wait another day to be foes

Maine South and Montini have been close allies since the summer of 2006.

Their turn as opponents had to wait another day.

Lightning put a jolt in the area's marquee matchup in Lombard on Friday night, forcing a postponement until 5 p.m. Saturday.

Neither highly successful head coach, Maine South's David Inserra and Montini's Chris Andriano, could recall a similar experience.

"In the 2005 playoffs against Warren, they were No. 1 at time, we took the field and there was lightning everywhere," Inserra said. "We went inside for three hours because it was a playoff game and we had to play it.

"It was a 1 o'clock game. We didn't finish until 8 p.m. This (decision to postpone) is good. It's better to come back. The kids can refocus and regroup."

The following summer is when the collaboration of the coaching staffs began.

Maine South was one of the first programs to successfully implement a run-and-shoot offense, and two sons of Montini offensive coordinator Lewis Borsellino played for Inserra and offensive cooridanator Charlie Bliss at Maine South.

"He is the teacher, I am the student," said Andriano, who's entering his 35th season as Montini's head coach.

"Yeah, right," Inserra said. "How long has it been now?"

With the exception of this summer, when they were preparing to play each other, the staffs have collaborated on an annual basis.

The results speak for themselves. Montini has won the last four Class 5A championships, while Maine South won three straight 8A titles from 2008-10 after finishing second every year from 2003-05.

"They've been great to us," Andriano said. "It has been a pleasure to be associated with them. They helped us so much."

Note to readers: Because of weather, Friday's game between Montini and Maine South was postponed until 5 p.m. Saturday.